Christ our Lord, Whose Kingship we honor today, brings His
authority to bear upon our lives here on earth principally through His
Mystical Body, the Church, which is to say, more precisely, through the
bishops
of His Church, insofar
as they stand in full communion with St. Peter's successor, the Bishop
of Rome. That is why St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, an
invaluable witness to the life and to the governing structure of
Christ's Church in the generation that followed the death of the last
of the apostles, emphasizes over and over again in his Letters to the
Churches of Asia [i.e.Asia Minor]: "Do nothing without the
bishop!" (This same Ignatius, by the way, was the first to use
the word "Catholic"
to distinguish the authentic Church of Christ from sundry heretical
simulations). That
injunction and that spirit-"Do nothing without the bishop!"--will
be embodied in
every enterprise to which the designation "Catholic" deservedly
applies. Such would be the case, for example, with respect to an
institution dedicated to Catholic higher education.
In exemplification of how this principle ought to apply in the
world of Catholic higher education one might cite the by-laws of the
largest diocesan
institution of higher leaming in the United States, Seton Hall
University, owned and operated by the Archdiocese of Newark. May I
provide you with a sampling of the by-laws of that Catholic university
with particular reference to who will enjoy ex officio membership on
the university's governing board. Such membership is designed to
guarantee the institution's continuing Catholicity. Through the automatic
awarding of the presidency of the governing board to the Archbishop of
the diocese in which the university is located "the right of Christ's
Church to establish and to rule schools of every kind and at every
level" (Gravissimum Educationis, a decree of Vatican II) is
appropriately assured .

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Ex-officio
Members. The following persons "by virtue of their office" shall be
members of the Board of Trustees with full voting privileges: The Most
Reverend Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark
(or if there is a vacancy in the office of the Archbishop, the
Administrator), as President; the
Vicar General of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark; the
President of the University; The
University's Minister to the Priest. Community as
Rector-Dean of the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology;
the Chair of the Board of Regents; the Vice Chair of the Board of
Regents; the Secretary of the Board of Regents; and three (3)
additional members of the Board of Regents who serve on the Executive
Committee of the Board of Regents as provided in Article V, Section 2
(A).
C. Appointed Members.In addition to the aforesaid
ex-officio members, there shall be five (5) persons appointed to the
Board of Trustees by the Most
Reverend Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark
(or if there is a vacancy in the office of the Archbishop, the
Administrator).
D. Terms
1 . The terms of membership of
the ex-otticio members shall be coterminous with their incumbency in
the office on which their membership is based.
2. The term of office of each appointed member
of the Board of Trustees shall be three (3) years.... Notwithstanding the foregoing, any
appointed member of the Board of Trustees may be removed from the Board
by the Most Reverend Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of
Newark (or if there is a vacancy in the office of the
Archbishop, the Administrator), with
or without cause.
E. The Chair of the Board
of Trustees shall always be the Most Reverend Archbishop of Newark,
President of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark (or if
there is a vacancy in the office of the Archbishop, the Administrator).
F. A Vice Chair and Secretary
of the Board of Trustees shall be elected
from the membership of the Board of Trustees by the Board of Trustees.